Impeachment for Ilyumzhinov?

Chess-News learnt that Kirsan Ilyumzhinov might face an impeachment procedure during the coming FIDE General Assembly that will take place in Baku in September. In order to do so it is necessary to collect 50% plus one delegates' vote.

Looking back last December Ilyumzhinov temporary delegated his powers to Georgios Makropoulos and "withdrew from any legal, financial and business operations of FIDE". It happened because of the American sanctions that USA imposed on Ilyumzhinov. However starting from that time Makropoulos hasn't ever represented FIDE acting as a President, while Ilyumzhinov himself repeated many times that he continues to remain the leader of this international organization.

According to our information sanctions severely affected FIDE financial activity because it is merely dependent on the President's activity. And as the court trial between Ilyumzhinov and US Treasury isn't clear, people that surround the President are urgently seeking a way out of this crisis situation as well as additional finance resources.

Impeachment isn't the only thing that might happen in Baku. A new President might be elected during the Olympiad. According to FIDE Statute, the election procedure is performed once in four years which eventually means that the new election should take place in 2018. In order to do it now it's necessary to change the Statute. In order to do so two thirds of the congress delegates are needed. However this is quite a quiz right now - whether there's enough people who really want to change the Statute.

However if the Statute is really going to be changed, who is going to be proposed as a candidate (e.g. sponsor)? According to our information there are negotiations with several candidates. Among them two current FIDE officials and billionaires: Asian chess leader Sheikh Sultan Bin Khalifa Al Nehyan and the President of the Russian chess federation Andrey Filatov. However there can be more surprises on the way.

We asked Kirsan Ilyumzhinov to comment on the situation but there is still no reply.

Comments

Chapter 12 - Removal from Office
12.1. Any elected or appointed official in FIDE can be removed from his position for cause. Cause is defined as being contrary to the spirit and text of the statutes and regulations of their office. The action must have the agreement of the Ethics Committee and requires a two third vote of the Executive Board or a majority in the General Assembly. In such cases the General Assembly or the Executive Board can set up a committee of three persons to investigate and examine an offence (or an act against the principles of FIDE); the committee shall report to the General Assembly or Executive Board.

If they remove Ilyumzhinov by the above Statute, currently the position would be unfilled.

Statute 3.10. When an elected FIDE office becomes vacant for any reason during the course of a term ... A vacancy for the position of President shall not be filled.

http://www.fide.com/fide/handbook.html?id=40&view=article

If Ilyumzhinov were to be removed by the General Assembly, theoretically he could appeal that GA decision to the CAS (see Statute 13.2), for instance on the grounds that there was no "cause" for him to be removed.

As noted in the article, a 2/3 majority is needed to change the Statutes (4.15: Statutes can be changed only by the General Assembly and only upon proposal by the FIDE President, the Executive Board, Presidential Board or any member-federation. Two thirds of the votes delivered without taking into account abstentions are required to effect such changes.)

Subject to restrictions from Swiss association law, a 2/3 majority in the FIDE General Assembly can do practically anything.

The FIDE Presidential Board meeting held in Tsaghkadzor is attended not only by Kirsan Ilyumzhinov but by another president: the honored guest of the meeting is the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan. The question of the participation of the Armenian team at the World Cup 2015 and Olympiad 2016 was discussed at the press conference held on the first meeting day. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov noted there are no obstacles for the Armenian team to participate in any of them.

As it has been known on November the 5th Turkish Chess Federation's presidential election will take place.The very interesting fact is that FIDE president Ilyumzhinov's visits to the country started to become more and more frequent. On the 22nd of October, in other words just today, he came once again to Turkey with the ingenious idea to organise a tournament among children from Black Sea countries.

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has visited Baku for official meeting with Azerbaijan president Ilham Aliyev as well as with the national Chess federation president Elman Rustamov and Azerbaijan Minister of Sport and Youth Azad Rakhimov.

The president of the Russian Chess Federation Andrey Filatov told our website that he has no ambitions to head up FIDE if offered: "First of all, the current FIDE president is good enough. Secondly, this position is extremely time-consuming and is related to enormous number of air travels. So, I've got neither time nor desire for that."

Below you can find a translated extract from a radio program aired on Ekho Moskvy (Echo of Moscow) which had Kirsan Ilyumzhinov as a guest. In it, Mr. Ilyumzhinov shares the story of his appointment as the FIDE President.